NZ company converts waste gases from steel mills into biofuel

New Zealand biofuel company LanzaTech says it has developed a microbe that can convert waste gases from steel mills into high-octane ethanol.

LanzaTech claims to be the first company to work with steel mills to develop a waste gas-to-ethanol process capable of capturing the carbon monoxide that is typically released by the industry.

The LanzaTech process captures steel mill waste gases and removes particulates, nitrogen and oxygen before sending the resulting gasses to a bioreactor. The carbon component of the gas is then fermented by the company's proprietary microbes to produce ethanol.